A/N: Well, this is the chapter that so many have been waiting for! Thank you, everyone for all your reviews, follows, and favorites — I'm glad that so many are enjoying it as much as the first two parts. And a special thanks to Bonnie and Mainsail for beta reading this and thus improving on the original. If you have questions or concerns about what's going on, feel free to include them in a review or a PM — I'll try to answer.

A/N 2: Where's Dobby? For those who may have forgotten, he and Winky were sent away on June 2 (chapter 58 of "The Power of Love") to learn from a muggle how to render down "monsters" like the basilisk for parts. Even if they were around, though, Dumbledore put up protections against house elves when he visited Privet Dr. in the spring. He remembered Dobby visiting before her second year and realized that it was a gaping hole in the defenses.

Also, it's worth remembering that Dumbledore was horrified that Jasmine had been kidnapped right out from under his nose, then tortured and nearly killed. He blames himself for all of her pain and injuries and consequently has been going way above and beyond in his efforts to protect her now. True, he's actually making things worse for her, but he doesn't see that (especially since he knows nothing about the relationship between Jasmine and Hermione — he just thinks they're friends). His guilt is driving him, not unlike how his guilt over his sister's death has driven him in other ways that have resulted in mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.

Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic is "I'm Still Here" by kathryn518. Harry and Voldemort fight each other until much of the world is destroyed, and Voldemort finds a way to escape to another, parallel world. Harry pursues and encounters quite a lot more than he expected. Incomplete, but still getting occasional updates and one of the better "Harry goes to an alternate universe" fics written by one of the better fanfic authors.

Italics: a person's thoughts.

Chapter 05 - Mars, the Bringer of War

Sunday, August 1, 1995. Night.

Jasmine's stomach gurgled and she looked at the clock, wondering if she could make it until morning without something to eat. The last time she'd forced herself to stay in her room to avoid an increasingly drunken Vernon, she'd had enough food stashed away to get by. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to replace it all yet, and she'd been getting hungrier and hungrier as the day had worn on. Do I go hungry until tomorrow when Vernon's at work, she wondered, or do I try to sneak downstairs to get some food now?

Eventually, hunger won out and she slipped quietly out of her room. Very carefully, she walked to the steps, making sure to avoid the squeaky board at the top, and strained to listen to the noises from downstairs. Almost immediately she heard Dudley stomping about, announcing that he was going to Piers' house for tea. At this hour? Jasmine resisted the urge to snort, knowing very well that Dudley and Piers were simply going to find smaller kids to bully. Well, that's one less person I have to avoid being seen by, she thought when she heard Dudley leave. Maybe this will work.

Before she could start making plans, however, the front door crashed back open, and she heard Dudley tumble in, screaming. Not giving any thought to the consequences, Jasmine practically jumped down the top half of the steps, and as she came around the corner to the lower half, she saw what she immediately recognized as a Dementor gliding through the doorway and into the hall. Only then did she realize that the house was growing cold as ice, and despair crept up the stairs in her direction. How could that thing get in? What happened to Dumbledore's protections?

Screams started coming from all of the Dursleys, and Jasmine just stood there in shock as a second Dementor appeared in the doorway. Instead of following the first, though, its hood turned and the blank emptiness where a face should be was aimed right at Jasmine. Slowly, its skeletal hand reached out in her direction. Jasmine felt frozen and helpless, unable to move or think as the second Dementor glided towards the stairs.

Before it could start to climb, however, Jasmine finally came to herself and whipped out her wand. She incanted "Expecto Patronum!" but all she got was a white mist as she heard her mother's screams join those of the Dursleys. By then the dementor was halfway up the bottom set of steps, and Jasmine felt the weight of the past summer pressing down on her. She felt alone and abandoned, and her knees began to buckle. She felt the burning pressure of Vernon's hand clenched around her arm, and she gasped in pain that seemed to be everywhere at once. She felt the frustration of spending so much time separated from the person she loved above all others….

Hermione!

Jasmine closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and focused her entire being on Hermione and their experiences during Beltane. Her eyelids snapped open, revealing glowing green eyes, and she once again incanted "Expecto Patronum!"

This time a bright white stag exploded out of her wand. It immediately lowered its head and gored the dementor, causing the dark creature to scream as it was lifted up on the antlers. The stag flew down the stairs, whipping its head and tossing the dementor out the front door, where its screams died away as it sailed into the darkness.

The patronus immediately turned around and charged down the hallway. Jasmine came the rest of the way down the stairs and was just in time to see the stag spear the other dementor with its antlers as the monster bent over Dudley in an attempt to suck out his soul. Her patronus lifted the shrieking thing and crashed out the back kitchen window.

Within seconds the stag was back in the hallway with her. Jasmine already felt like she was cocooned in Hermione's love just from the effort to cast her patronus, but when the stag approached her and started nuzzling her face, the emotions were so intense that they felt like they would burst out of her chest. Wow, I didn't realize that a Patronus could be this powerful!

It was then that Jasmine was suddenly overwhelmed by a vision: Hermione in trouble. Hermione fighting. Hermione terrified. Hermione being tortured.

Jasmine was near to panic, unsure of what to do. She looked up at the stag, which first cocked its head at her, then nodded as if it were giving her permission to do what she already knew she needed. And in an instant, she did know. Long before Hogwarts she had accidentally apparated to escape bullies at school — if she did it then, she could do it now. If she could do it to save herself, she could do it to save the witch she loved.

She ignored the lingering coldness. She ignored the sobbing figure of Petunia Dursley, bent over the prone body of her darling Duddikins. Breathing deeply, Jasmine closed her eyes and focused everything she had on her girlfriend. In a few seconds, she started feeling as if she were being squeezed through a straw.

Apolline jumped out of her chair when she saw Fleur and Gabrielle stagger into her home office. Both were pale and sickly-looking. "What is it?" she asked.

"Jasmine and Hermione," Fleur gasped out. "Something terrible is happening!"

Apolline helped both of her daughters to the couch then went to the fireplace to call Adrienne. When the the Theledrion member examined both sisters, she said, "I don't know what to do. I'm guessing that it's the bond they have with the English witches. We don't have any experience with this sort of bond, but I suspect it's snapping back on them for not being there in the others' time of need."

"What if we floo'd to them?" Fleur asked desperately.

Adrienne shook her head. "Do you know where they are? And if they're off the network and in a muggle area, how long would it take to get to them?" She sat down on one side of them while Apolline sat on the other. "I am truly sorry, but you are going to have to ride this out and hope those two are able to handle whatever danger they are in."

Fleur and Gabrielle held each other close as Apolline and Adrienne tried to comfort them. Although she didn't say anything aloud, Gabrielle vowed to all the goddesses that she would never, ever leave Jasmine alone to face danger again. No matter what it took, she would be there by her side to protect and help her.

Jasmine barely kept to her feet as she landed on an unfamiliar street. Down a little ways, she saw two figures in black cloaks standing in front of a house. Having a good idea of who they were, she walked quietly up behind them, but stopped when she felt as though she had passed through something and could suddenly hear the two talking.

"How long do we have to wait, again?" one asked.

"Until all of the others are done," the second answered. "Then we get our turn with the mudblood bitch and her mother. We just have to make sure they stay alive so that the Dark Lord can use them."

Jasmine's vision swam with red and she incanted "Lacero!" without pausing for thought. Both Death Eaters were cut in half before they even knew there was danger around them. Jasmine almost wanted to vomit when she saw the two halves of both wizards slide apart, but then she remembered why she was there and immediately started jogging across the rest of the yard. As she approached, the front door opened and another Death Eater appeared in the doorway. Again without thinking, Jasmine quickly cast "Confringo!" blowing the man apart and leaving numerous small flames licking at the damaged door frame.

She didn't have any sort of plan, she didn't know how many Death Eaters there were, and she didn't know where in the house they might be. All she knew was that Hermione was in there and in trouble, and that was all that mattered. She charged through the empty doorway and immediately to her left saw both Granger parents on the floor with a single Death Eater bending over them. Lindsey Granger appeared to be unconscious; Emma Granger was having her clothing ripped off.

The Death Eater had already turned to look at the front door when he heard his comrade get hit by Jasmine's spell, and upon seeing her enter the house, he quickly cast a cutting curse at her. As she tried to dodge to the side, she cast Perforo, aiming carefully to avoid hitting either of Hermione's parents accidentally. The extra fraction of a second meant that Jasmine didn't move fast enough to avoid getting clipped on the side of the face, and she felt a sharp stinging sensation followed by warmth and wetness.

All of the time the girls had spent with target practice paid off, however, because her own curse connected, creating a hole right through the center of the Death Eater's mask and into the wall behind him. He dropped lifelessly to the floor, his wand rolling away.

While Emma Granger curled into a fetal position and twitched with what Jasmine recognized as the aftereffects of the Cruciatus curse, Jasmine heard what could only be Hermione's screams of pain. She leapt over a black-robed body lying in the hall and raced into the Grangers' kitchen. There she found Hermione writhing in agony on the floor as the Cruciatus was cast on her by the shorter of two standing Death Eaters; two others were lying in pools of blood and obviously no longer any threat.

"You dare raise your wand to us, mudblood?" the figure cursing Hermione snarled in a familiar voice. "You'll pay for killing three of our brothers! You'll be wishing for death before we're done with your filthy body!"

Jasmine quickly incanted "Discerpo!" at the speaker, severing his wand hand halfway up his forearm. He howled and spun around, and Jasmine immediately recognized him as Draco Malfoy. Furious, she cried, "Sphaera Ignea!" Just as she did so, the second and taller Death Eater cast "Avada Kedavra!" at her while reaching out for Malfoy with his free hand.

The green killing curse was poorly aimed because of the taller Death Eater's rushed movements and passed over Jasmine, exploding against the wall behind her. Her own curse struck both of the Death Eaters, and they burst into flames and screams just as they disappeared.

Running forward and kneeling next to Hermione's still-twitching body, Jasmine lifted her shoulders up off the floor and looked into her girlfriend's brown eyes.

"J-Jasmine? Is that you?"

"I'm here, Hermione," she answered softly. "I told you I'd always be here for you."

Hermione immediately pulled Jasmine into a bone-crushing hug which the green-eyed witch enthusiastically returned. After a long moment, Hermione pulled back and took a ragged breath before saying, "I g-got the three that came in the b-back door, but there were three more that came in the front and I couldn't g-get them, too. I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," Jasmine said, keeping her voice soft and soothing. "You did great."

"M-my parents?" she asked, suddenly scared.

"In the other room," Jasmine said. "They looked like they were alive when I came in here for you."

They stared at each other for a moment before Hermione tightened her arms about Jasmine's neck and Jasmine reciprocated, and suddenly the two were kissing — deeply, passionately, and desperately. The blue and green magical lights that burst forth from both of them were blinding — not to Jasmine and Hermione, who had their eyes closed, but to the woman who was standing just inside the kitchen doorway and who had to throw up her arm to shield her eyes from the unexpected brightness.

Neither witch heard Emma Granger gasp in shock when she could see again and recognized the passionate embrace for what it was. The sight of such a kiss instantly answered so many questions for her, but so many more were raised — and she wasn't ready to think about any of them just yet. Very quietly, she began to turn back to help her husband in the living room.

Unfortunately for all of them, Emma Granger wasn't the only person to see the glow. Jasmine never thought about the possibility that there might be more guards than just the two standing in front of the house, and three more masked Death Eaters charged in through the ruined back door, attracted by the bright glowing light they had seen shining out of the kitchen windows.

Only one of them, a veteran Death Eater from the previous war, already had his wand out. "Potter!" he bellowed as soon as he saw the two witches, raising his wand to strike. Jasmine and Hermione broke apart in shock at seeing that they were still in danger; Jasmine cast "Fortis Aegis!" to create a broad, shimmering shield between them and the intruders while Hermione groped around under the kitchen table to where she last saw her wand. Emma ducked down to take cover behind the counter.

Two quick spells hit Jasmine's shield, but it held while Hermione and the two other Death Eaters all brought their wands to bear.

After hearing her parents' screams and being tortured herself, Hermione Granger no longer felt the slightest hesitation at casting violent spells in defense of her loved ones. "Ossus Diffringo!" she incanted as she leaned around Jasmine's shield.

Hermione's constant practice over the past months made her just a bit faster and more accurate than the riff-raff Voldemort had been able to recruit thus far. Her bluish-grey spell impacted her opponent square in the pelvis, sending him crashing back, screaming in pain as most of the bones in the center of his body shattered. His own spell went wild and hit the cabinets above the counter that Emma was hiding behind, eliciting a cry from her. The other two cast even more powerful spells against Jasmine's shield, and still it held.

The veteran Death Eater stopped trying to take down the shield and chose instead to use an unforgivable, since those curses can't be blocked by shields. The Dark Lord wanted everyone alive — especially Potter — so he cast "Crucio!" at Potter, causing her to drop the shield and convulse in agony on the floor, leaving Hermione open to attack from the new recruit.

The recruit, however, found the sight of the young auburn-haired witch being tortured a bit too interesting, and in his distraction he gave Hermione an opening to cast "Defodio!" at the Death Eater torturing her girlfriend. Normally the violet curse would have simply left deep wounds on the man's body, even when cast by Hermione, but in her rage and fear she put so much power into the curse that the gouges went all the way through, damaging the wall behind him and leaving the Death Eater in pieces.

The final recruit had never been on a raid before, and seeing a veteran Death Eater split into pieces shocked him so badly that his wand shook, and he couldn't think of what spell to cast. Neither Hermione nor Jasmine were willing to give him more time, though, and they simultaneously cast "Contundo!" sending him flying through the wall into the backyard with more bones broken than not.

This time, Hermione took a moment to look for additional threats, peering through the new opening in the wall and casting a quick Hominem Revelio before returning to help Jasmine up off the floor. The two witches immediately fell into each other's arms again and held on tight as all the adrenaline started to drain away. "Are you alright?" Hermione asked as she held her still-twitching girlfriend.

"Oh, s-sure," Jasmine replied with a weak attempt at bravado. "N-not as bad as V-voldemort."

Hermione pulled back from the hug slightly, looked into Jasmine's green eyes and whispered, "I'll always come for you, too."

Jasmine smiled. "I know you will."

"I swear to you, too," Hermione continued, "that no distance separating us and no bonds holding me back will ever keep me from you if you're in trouble. Nothing will ever stop me from striking down any who dare hurt you." The passionate kiss that followed was once again accompanied by the glowing lights, though not as strong as those which had blazed forth a few minutes earlier.

Suddenly Hermione remembered her mother's scream and pulled away so she could check on her. Emma Granger was still twitching a bit from her exposure to the Cruciatus earlier, and the exploding cabinet had left her dazed and with a few cuts on her face, but she was otherwise uninjured. Both Granger women hugged each other and sobbed as Jasmine looked on.

By the time Jasmine and Hermione had Emma back to the living room, Lindsey Granger was starting to wake up and Hermione had begun to feel a lot better. She was, in fact, improving faster than Jasmine had after she'd been kidnapped in the spring. Hermione wasn't sure if that was because Draco Malfoy was so much worse at casting the Cruciatus than Voldemort (which was almost certainly the case), if her protection amulet had helped her, or if it had something to do with the odd glowing lights she thought she had seen when she had opened her eyes at the end of their kiss. They reminded her of the glowing light she had thought she had seen at Beltane, but she didn't understand how the two could be connected.

"Here, let me take care of that," she said to Jasmine once she was sure her parents were recovering. With a very gentle incantation of "Episkey," she ran her wand along the cut on Jasmine's face, healing it so well that it wouldn't scar. After that they simply leaned against each other in physical and emotional exhaustion, overwhelmed by all they had seen and done this night.

"I think we overestimated the ability of new locks and an alarm system to help us," Lindsey muttered as he and Emma embraced, similarly exhausted and overwhelmed

When several cracks of apparition sounded out in front of the house a few minutes later, both girls lifted their wands into casting position — neither had put them away while they talked to Hermione's parents about what to do next. Jasmine took a chance at peeking out a window and saw several figures, none of which were in black cloaks. Two were standing around on the front lawn, looking at the bodies of the two she'd sliced in half, while the rest were headed towards the house with wands drawn.

Fortunately, she recognized one as looking like Remus Lupin. "Don't come any closer!" she shouted in the direction of the remains of the front door. More quietly to Hermione, she said, "There are at least five, and one looks like Professor Lupin."

Hermione nodded and said, "He's working with Professor Dumbledore, so he may have sent them."

"Who's in there?" came a gruff voice.

"Is that Moody?" Jasmine asked quietly. Hermione shrugged, so Jasmine answered, "Someone who will curse first and ask questions later. This is private property, so you identify yourselves first."

Jasmine could have sworn she heard someone laugh before a familiar voice responded, "Remus Lupin, Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Junior Auror Nymphadora Tonks, Retired Auror Alastor Moody, and Healer Emmeline Vance."

"Uh, okay," Jasmine said. "But how do I know you are who you say you are?"

"Dammit, Lupin, hurry it up! We don't have time for this!" they heard the gruff voice complain.

Then Remus' voice said, "Ask me something only Remus Lupin would know."

Jasmine and Hermione looked at each other for a moment, then Hermione called out, "What was the first thing you said to me when we saw each other on the street the other day?"

There was a moment's hesitation before he said in a regretful voice, "I said I was disappointed in you, Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded to Jasmine and said, "That's him."

Jasmine's eyes narrowed. "You're really going to have to tell me that story."

Hermione's mouth quirked before she called out, "You can enter, but keep your hands where we can see them."

All five named people entered the house and an unfamiliar witch, whom Jasmine presumed to be Vance, asked, "Is anyone injured?"

"My mum, Jasmine, and I were put under the Cruciatus," Hermione said, "but I'm doing alright at the moment. I don't know what they did to my dad. Oh, Jasmine also had a cut on her face, but I already healed that."

One of them, a tall black man, had left the group and returned while Vance was examining the Grangers. "In addition to the two in the front, we've got five dead Death Eaters in the house and a sixth in the backyard," he said soberly, looking a little queasy. "Also, I think we stepped in one as we entered the house. Otherwise, it's all clear." Mad-Eye Moody — the real one, Jasmine hoped — nodded and turned to the younger witches.

"I'll want to know what happened here, but we need to leave before anyone from the Ministry shows up," he told them. "No matter what happened, the involvement of two underage witches will turn this into a complete mess, and the way the Ministry is right now, I don't trust that you'll be treated fairly. So we need some distance and time to prepare a defense."

He looked at the healer and said, "Vance, make sure the parents are fine while we take the girls to headquarters, then—"

"No!" Hermione said. When Moody looked in surprise at her, she said, "I won't leave without my parents."

"Look, missy," he said in exasperation, "headquarters is a magical house, and muggles shouldn't—"

"I don't care," Hermione said defiantly. "We were all just attacked by Death Eaters, and I refuse to be separated from my family."

Before Moody could respond, Jasmine stepped forward, wand slightly elevated, to add, "And I won't be leaving without Hermione."

"Mad-Eye?" Remus said quietly. When he had the older auror's attention, he continued, "I don't think Sirius will mind having Mr. and Mrs. Granger as guests, even if it means making special allowances for them. He thinks very highly of Miss Granger and would enjoy meeting her parents, I'm sure."

Moody growled in annoyance. "Fine, fine, we'll all leave. That just means we're under more pressure." He turned to the dark-skinned man and said, "Shacklebolt, help Miss Granger gather her school stuff. Lupin, you help the Grangers pack for a few days."

He then turned to Jasmine while the Grangers all went upstairs and said, "Potter, we'll send someone to get your school stuff tomorrow, then—"

"My stuff might not be there by tomorrow," Jasmine cut in as Vance looked over her cheek where Hermione had healed her wound. "After the dementor attack earlier, I expect Vernon to burn all my stuff, assuming he hasn't already."

That statement was greeted with stunned silence, then everyone started speaking at once.

"Quiet!" Moody shouted over the furor, getting more and more annoyed by the minute. "Potter," he grated, "did you just say that there was a dementor?"

"Yes," Jasmine replied matter-of-factly, "two of them. One of them might have kissed my cousin, but I don't know. Right after I got rid of them, I came here."

Moody was about to say something when a phoenix patronus flew in and said in Dumbledore's voice, "Alastor, likely dementor attack at the Dursleys. Jasmine Potter is missing. Hurry here to help."

Moody closed his good eye and appeared to be trying to calm himself. Finally, he said, "Vance, if you're done with Potter, go upstairs and hurry the Grangers along. Our night just got even more complicated, because we're all making a side trip to Little Whinging before we can go to headquarters."

Turning to Jasmine, he fixed her with both his normal and his magical eyes and said, "Did anything else happen tonight that I need to be aware of, Potter?"

"Uh, not that I know of," Jasmine answered, suddenly feeling very small and nervous.

Moody gave a single nod and said, "Good — see that you keep it that way, too!" He then stomped outside, muttering indistinctly as he cast his own messenger patronus to reassure the Headmaster about Jasmine's whereabouts.

When the motley group of magicals and muggles apparated into the Dursleys' backyard, it was obvious that there were problems in the house: all the lights were on, and raised voices were easy to hear. Hermione saw Jasmine tense and immediately moved next to her so she could take her arm. "Come on, Jas, let's go get your stuff," she said.

That got everyone moving, though the Grangers were the slowest because of their recent injuries, and soon the small ground floor of the house was filled with people, causing Vernon Dursley to get even more enraged. "What are all of you freaks doing here?" he bellowed. "We don't want any of you here, and we're tired of you interfering with our lives!"

"Is that normal for him?" Hermione asked in a whisper. Jasmine just nodded grimly.

"Ah, Healer Vance," Hermione heard Dumbledore call out. "Would you please check over young Mr. Dursley, here? He's been exposed to dementors and is still suffering some ill effects."

"What are you doing to my Duddikins?" demanded a woman — Petunia, Hermione surmised.

"You have nothing to fear, Mrs. Dursley," Vance responded. "I'm just checking to see how healthy he is and what I can do to help him recover faster." Petunia just kept crying over a whale of a boy who had to be Dudley.

Dumbledore then turned to Jasmine, giving her a relieved smile before saying, "Miss Potter, I'm very happy to see you alive and well. When I noticed the alarms for the wards here going off, I rushed over to see what was wrong. Eventually I was able to get enough out of your family to conclude that they were likely attacked by dementors, but I couldn't find the dementors any more than I could find you."

Jasmine nodded stiffly and said, "It was two dementors, but I left right after I drove them off because Hermione was in danger." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that, but before he could inquire further, Moody made his presence known.

"Potter!" the grizzled old auror shouted. "What are you doing, still standing there? Get your stuff! Tonks, go with her, and make it quick."

Hermione and Tonks both accompanied Jasmine to her room, a room so small that the three of them barely fit.

"They don't give you much, do they?" Tonks asked disbelievingly while Hermione just shook her head.

"It's better than my cupboard under the stairs," Jasmine muttered under her breath, but Tonks caught the comment easily.

Once they got Jasmine's trunk downstairs, Hermione saw Tonks walk slowly over to the cupboard door, open it, then close it quickly while her hair cycled between several different colors. She then went to Remus to say something before Moody called her outside. Hermione joined Remus at the cupboard door while Tonks exited the house. He sniffed the air deeply and blanched.

Hermione already had a good idea of what was behind the door, so she let Remus open it. When he did so, she couldn't help but ask quietly, "Do you still believe Dumbledore's assurances that Jasmine is safest here?" She didn't bother waiting for a reply, instead turning away and rejoining her girlfriend.

"What's up, Mad-Eye?" Tonks called as she walked out of the house, then stopped and waited while she watched him cast spells at the air around the house. "Checking the wards?" she asked when he finished and turned to face her.

"Aye, Albus asked me to double-check his own conclusions," Moody answered. "Bloody pitiful, they are. Merlin-be-damned blood protections are practically non-existent, but he's been keeping that lass isolated here since term ended in order to recharge them! Something's very wrong here, and what's worse, even with how weak they are, they still shouldn't have let any threats in."

"That doesn't sound right," Tonks responded with a frown as she tried to review what she knew about blood protections, which wasn't very much.

"You've got that right, lass," Moody said, and Tonks thought she could detect a hint of a growl in his voice. She didn't blame him — more than one member of the Order had expressed reservations about how extreme Jasmine's isolation was, but Dumbledore kept insisting that her safety trumped all other considerations right now. Isolation had kept her safe before she ever got to Hogwarts, and he seemed to feel that it offered the most security now.

Tonks wasn't so sure, but the pained look on Dumbledore's face whenever the subject came up told her that he genuinely feared for Jasmine, so she had given him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, the irony was that he'd been right about the danger, yet the protections he went to such extremes to employ had proven useless for some reason.

"Wake up and pay attention!" Moody half-shouted as he pointed at a black shape on the ground, mostly hidden under a rose bush. "I found that when I came out here to check the wards for Albus. Tell me what it is, Junior Auror Tonks."

Tonks frowned, looking at what she assumed was a simple black cloak. If it were, though, Mad-Eye wouldn't be making a test out of it, she concluded. Probably.

First she cast several standard detection spells, then she cast a few obscure ones. Finally, she picked it up in her hands and examined it. Abruptly, she tossed it away from her and started vigorously rubbing her hands on her robes. "What the—! Is that—? But... Mad-Eye, is that a dementor cloak?"

Moody grinned and said, "Aye, lass, that's exactly what it is. And, judging by some of the bits I see around here," he kicked at something with the tip of his wooden leg, "I think we've got what's left of a dementor, too."

"But..." Tonks was at a loss for words. Dementors couldn't be killed — everyone knew that. If you were sufficiently skilled and powerful you could drive them off, but that was it.

"Yeah, I know, it's impossible," Moody said as he stomped back to the front door. "Potter!" he called, "Tell me what happened to the dementors!"

Tonks heard Jasmine explain that her patronus pushed one out the front door and the second out through the kitchen window. Moody turned back to her and gestured for her to go around to the back of the house to see what she could find. Within moments, she found another dementor cloak — everyone had walked right past it in the dark when they entered the house earlier.

She reported her discovery to Moody, who just shook his head, then pulled out a pair of bags and ordered her to gather up all the evidence — cloaks, bits, pieces, and whatever else she could find. Using her metamorphmagus skills to create a far more disgusted expression than was humanly possible, she proceeded to follow orders while cursing Moody with every nasty word she knew, plus a few she made up just for the occasion.

Meanwhile, Dudley had been given a large piece of chocolate and was feeling better by the minute — a situation that Jasmine noted had been rather common throughout his life. She tried her best to ignore the arguments surrounding the Dursleys, but Vernon's was not a voice that was easily ignored. "I want all of you freaks out of here!"

"Freaks?" Emma Granger asked. "I know that many people don't particularly enjoy going to the dentist, but this is the first time I've ever been insulted like that!"

That response seemed to catch Vernon up short. "Uh, dentists? You mean, like normal dentists?"

"Yes," Emma said with narrowed eyes. "I try to make things as normal as possible for my patients."

"Then what are you doing with these freaks?" Vernon asked, his voice rising again.

"What freaks?" Lindsey asked, not comprehending.

"He means me," Jasmine said quietly to the Grangers. "Well, all witches and wizards, actually, but he's usually talking about me. I'm the freak. Sorry about that."

Lindsey shot Vernon a withering glare that promised pain... and no anaesthesia. Emma decided to go a bit further and spoke in a quiet, menacing voice, "This young lady just saved my family from people who were going to kill us. Without her, we'd all be dead. Or worse! And from what I heard, she saved your family, too! You'd have been left as soulless husks, according to these people." Emma moved to put her arm around Jasmine, and the young witch could feel that it continued to twitch every so often. "How can you call this dear girl a freak when you owe your very lives to her?"

"Perhaps we should leave..." Dumbledore said diplomatically.

"Leave! Yes!" Vernon thundered, his already-red face coloring even more. "Leave, and take the freak brat with you! She only had to save us because she put us in danger in the first place — we're better off without her or you lot anywhere near us! Normal people shouldn't mix with you freaks. It's unnatural! We never wanted her in the first place, and we don't want her back here ever again!"

"Vernon!" Petunia cried out, but he wasn't budging this time.

"Pet, she almost got our Dudley killed — and maybe us as well," he said to his wife. "We always knew she was dangerous. You should have let me try harder to stamp the freakishness out of her, instead of feeling sorry for her because she was a girl. Well, now look at what she's done!" He gestured to Dudley, causing Petunia to start crying again.

"Mr. Dursley," Dumbledore said anxiously, "please don't act in anger and haste. It's very important that—"

"What's important is that my family be kept safe, which isn't possible when that freak is around!" Vernon responded, pointing a fat, shaking finger in Jasmine's direction. "We want her and all of you freaks gone for good! We don't want any of you to ever darken our doorstep again!"

Dumbledore's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Perhaps you should get all the rest of your things, Miss Potter," he said sadly to Jasmine, "as it seems you won't be allowed to return here."

Jasmine frowned at him. "Rest? I don't have anything else — never did. All that I own is in my school trunk, as usual, so we can leave immediately. I'm as anxious to get out of this house as they are to throw me out." She missed Dumbledore's pained expression when she turned at hearing Moody's voice.

"We should have left a while ago," Moody shouted. "We're long out of time and need to get these witches to a safe location." Dumbledore nodded tiredly, gave a half smile to Jasmine, then said goodbye to the Dursleys. Once everyone was again in the backyard, they all apparated to what seemed to be a rundown residential neighborhood in London.

"I could tell you this directly," Dumbledore said as he conjured a small piece of parchment and began writing, "but I'd rather not risk being overheard, just in case we're being observed by the wrong sorts of people." Once he was done, he showed Jasmine and the Grangers the parchment, instructing them to memorize what he'd written on it: "The Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12 Grimmauld Place." They were then told to look in front of them and concentrate on the phrase they read. As they did so, a house magically appeared in between Number 11 and Number 13, pushing the other two out of the way.

Dumbledore took back and burned the parchment before leading the way up the front steps. When he reached the top, the door opened to reveal Sirius Black standing there.

"It's about time!" he said. "What took all of you so long?"

In France, Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour were feeling much better, but they were profoundly unhappy. Something terrible had happened, and while their friends had evidently survived, both veela felt that they should have been there to help. They felt that it was their duty, in fact, and consequently Fleur began immediate preparations to move to Britain — something that had already been planned, but which could no longer wait. With luck, she'd be in London late tomorrow.

Gabrielle was furious at being left behind, but she was underage, and it was still uncertain whether they'd be able to get her into Hogwarts. That would be one of Fleur's tasks over the next month, in addition to finding a job herself and figuring out a way to stay in close contact with Jasmine and Hermione. That didn't make Gabrielle feel any better, though, and she started making plans for what she could do to get to Jasmine's side if Fleur wasn't successful.

Voldemort looked down with utter contempt at the two smoldering Malfoys. This was the second time that Lucius had to be saved from burning up, and now it looked like Draco was following in his father's footsteps.

No, it was worse, because at least Lucius still had all of his limbs.

"Explain to Us," he said slowly, partly because he was trying to hold in his anger until he got the full story and partly because he was still recovering from a new and unexpected bout of pain that had hit him earlier, "why you were unable to get past the old man's protections, even though you led eleven of Our servants — two veterans besides yourself plus your whelp and seven recently marked recruits?"

"My Lord," Lucius wheezed, clearly having trouble with the pain, "Protective wards... had been placed there at one time, but they were practically... non-existent when we approached the house."

Voldemort thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. It's a muggle area, so unless he came back regularly to recharge his wards, they wouldn't have lasted long. Continue."

"The mudblood fought back," Lucius explained. "After we subdued her muggle parents... at the front of the house, Draco and I went to the back... where she had killed one recruit. She then killed… two more before my son and I could stop her."

Voldemort frowned at hearing this. He knew that none of his recent recruits were especially strong or skilled — that would take time to build — but they were adult wizards with some experience, and they shouldn't have had a problem with a single mudblood witch who hadn't even taken her OWLs yet. Maybe there is a flaw in the tactics being used? he wondered.

"Then what happened?" Voldemort asked.

"It was that Potter bitch!" Draco burst out before his father could answer. He waved the stump of his right arm in rage. "She did this to me! She cut off my wand hand! I want revenge — I want her screaming at my feet!"

Voldemort cast a quick Cruciatus at the whelp for shouting at him, though in truth he wasn't all that upset — such anger and passion were useful, so long as they were directed properly. "Is this true, Lucius?" Voldemort asked. "Did Potter interrupt you? Did the little witch once again… set you alight?" There were soft snickers from the assembled Death Eaters standing around the edges of the room.

Lucius nodded painfully. "Yes, my Lord. She cast… both the curses."

Voldemort leaned his head back in thought. "No one else has returned," he said, "so We must assume that she or whomever she was working with did something to the others. We find it unlikely that an underaged witch working alone could have taken out several of Our servants without you hearing it, but We should not exclude the possibility, either."

He paused for a moment in contemplation, then said, "Either way, your leadership resulted in the loss of seven newly marked Death Eaters on their very first raid plus two of your long-time brothers in Our service, Crabbe and Goyle, to say nothing of the injuries sustained by both you and your… spawn. The only thing you seem to have done right is to let Us know about how badly you failed — not that that is especially praiseworthy."

He motioned for someone to remove the two Malfoys and to see to their injuries. We should kill Lucius for his failure tonight, he considered, but not until We know more about what happened to him. We need to understand how my servants were defeated before We dare send more into such situations. He winced as the throbbing in his head grew more intense. We also need to resume work on finding out what is happening to Us.

At the Granger home in Crawley and the Dursley home in Little Whinging, two owls from the Ministry of Magic circled around, looking for the intended recipients of letters from Mafalda Hopkirk, an assistant in the Improper Use of Magic Office who had tea with Dolores Umbridge several times a week.

Eventually the owls gave up and returned to the Ministry, much to Umbridge's delight, since that meant she could add fleeing the scene of a crime to the list of charges. "Is this everything?" she asked in her sweetest voice as she gathered up the reports produced by the spells which the Ministry used to monitor underaged magic.

"Y-y-yes," Hopkirk answered. "But... but those spells cast by Miss Grang—"

"Came at just the right time, I know," Umbridge interrupted, shoving everything into her bag without bothering to read any of it. "These are all the copies, right?" she asked, and at Hopkirk's nervous nod she cast a spell to seal the bag securely. "Good. I'll just keep them safe, then — we wouldn't want anything to happen to the evidence in case there are questions later on. You'll be able to send out the expulsion notices again tomorrow, won't you? It's important that they receive them." Assuming Potter is still alive, she added silently. Though if not, we'll at least be able to get rid of her little mudblood friend.

Hopkirk nodded nervously again.

"Excellent. See you tomorrow for tea!" Umbridge let out a little giggle as she exited the Improper Use of Magic Office and headed home, looking forward to sleeping the sleep of the just.